Walter Burkert (1931–2015)
Author of Greek Religion
About the Author
German-born scholar Walter Burkert currently teaches at the University of Zurich. He is the leading active scholar of the religion of early and classical Greece. Burkert's work proceeds through intense, meticulous historical and philological investigation, seeking to understand Greek religion in show more and of itself. His studies wed philology and history with methods drawn from anthropology and resemble the work of Jonathan Z. Smith. But, unlike Smith, who seems to rule out diachronic considerations categorically in favor of synchronic taxonomies or analogical comparisons, Burkert remains interested in questions of long-term historical evolution and cross-cultural influence. Burkert gives particular attention to psychological causation and the biological roots of human behavior as revealed by the science of ethology. For example, his study of Greek sacrifice, Homo necans, roots the practice of sacrifice in the biological necessity faced by prehistoric hunting groups that killed to survive. Burkert suggests that this necessary, aggressive behavior gave rise to anxiety, but through the practice of sacrifice the unavoidable aggression, which otherwise threatened to destroy society, was redirected to its promotion instead. In Structure and History Burkert's theoretical concerns are larger, including both myth and ritual. The precise relation between myth and ritual has been a vexing question for scholars of ancient religions; Burkert places them side by side and links them at a structural level. He thinks ritual is older than myth, because it is a form of behavior found even in animals. Nevertheless, ritual and myth share several important features: Both depend upon basic biological or cultural programs of action and detachment from pragmatic reality. Both serve communication. Because myth and ritual are related in this way, it is possible for them to be found together. Burkert's Greek Religion is the current, standard handbook on the religions of ancient Greece. His most recent work has been devoted to examining the influence of the ancient Near East on archaic Greek civilization. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Walter Burkert
The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (1984) 135 copies
Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, Rene Girard, and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation (1987) 77 copies
Arktouros: Hellenic Studies Presented to Bernard M. W. Knox on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday (1979) — Editor — 3 copies
Klassisches Altertum und antikes Christentum: Probleme einer übergreifenden Religionswissenschaft (1996) 3 copies
Kleine Schriften III: Mystica, Orphica, Pythagorica (Walter Burkert. Kleine Schriften) (German Edition) (2006) 2 copies
Hypomnemata. Supplement Reihe, Band 002,4: Kleine Schriften IV: Mythica, Ritualia, Religiosa 1 (2011) 2 copies
'Religion', 'Ritual' and the Opposition 'Sacred vs. Profane': Notes towards a Terminological 'Genealogy'775-8660, (1998) 1 copy
Kleine Schriften II: Orientalia. Hrsg. von M. Laura Gemelli Marciano in Zusammenarbeit mit Franziska Egli, Lucius… (2003) 1 copy
Greece and the Greeks 1 copy
Associated Works
Oxford Readings in Homer's Iliad (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies) (2002) — Contributor — 26 copies
Mantike: Studies in Ancient Divination (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World) (2005) — Contributor — 21 copies
New Perspectives in Early Greek Art (Studies in the History of Art) (1991) — Contributor — 10 copies
Philosophy and Salvation in Greek Religion (Religionsgeschichtliche Und Versuche Vorarbeiten) (Religionsgeschichtliche… (2013) — Contributor — 9 copies
Personification In The Greek World: From Antiquity To Byzantium (Publications for the Centre for Hellenic Studies,… (2005) — Contributor — 7 copies
Philostratus's Heroikos: Religion And Cultural Identity In The Third Century C. E. (2004) — Contributor — 7 copies
What is a God? Studies in the Nature of Greek Divinity (Classical Press of Wales) (1997) — Contributor — 6 copies
Hesperos: Studies in Ancient Greek Poetry Presented to M. L. West on his Seventieth Birthday (2007) — Contributor — 6 copies
Early Greek cult practice : proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 26-29… (1988) — Contributor — 5 copies
Tracing Orpheus studies of orphic fragments ; in honour of Alberto Bernabé (2011) — Contributor — 4 copies
Poetry as Initiation: The Center for Hellenic Studies Symposium on the Derveni Papyrus (2014) — Contributor — 3 copies
Kykeon: Studies in Honour of H.S. Versnel (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World) (2002) — Contributor — 3 copies
Secrecy and Concealment: Studies in the History of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Religions (Studies in the History of… (1995) — Contributor — 2 copies
Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis (Historia - Einzelschriften) (1995) — Contributor — 2 copies
Epea pteroenta : Beiträge zur Homerforschung : Festschrift für Wolfgang Kullmann zum 75. Geburtstag (2002) — Contributor — 1 copy
Antike Medizin im Schnittpunkt von Geistes- und Naturwissenschaften Internationale Fachtagung aus Anlass des… (2009) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1931-02-02
- Date of death
- 2015-03-11
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Germany
- Birthplace
- Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, Germany
- Place of death
- Uster, Zürich, Switzerland
- Places of residence
- Bavaria, Germany
California, USA
Berlin, Germany - Education
- University of Erlangen (Ph.D|1955)
University of Munich - Occupations
- Professor of Classics
- Organizations
- University of Zurich
- Awards and honors
- Richard M. Weaver Award (1992)
Gifford Lectures (1989)
Balzan Prize (1990)
Sigmund Freud Prize (2003)
American Philosophical Society (1987) - Short biography
- An Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Zurich, Walter Burkert was a well-known historian of Greek religion. He brought methodological innovation and keen insight to the ancient texts and materials of his field, and his work has implications for all aspects of ancient Mediterranean studies, from literature to science to philosophy to religion. Dr. Burkert received training in classical philology, history and philosophy at the Universities of Erlangen and Munich, obtained his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Erlangen in 1955 and taught there over much of the next ten years. In 1965 he served as a junior fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. for one year before becoming a professor of classical philology at the Technical University of Berlin. He joined the faculty of the University of Zurich in 1969 and taught there for 27 years before retiring. He had published books on the balance between lore and science in the followers of Pythagoras; on ritual and archaic cult survival; on the ritual killing at the heart of religion; and on the reception in the Hellenic world of Near Eastern and Persian culture, which sets Greek religion in its wider Aegean and Near Eastern context. Among his works are Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth (English translation, 1982), which is considered an outstanding account of concepts in Greek religion; Ancient Mystery Cults (1987); and Creation of the Sacred (1996). Walter Burkert died March 11, 2015, at the age of 84 in Zurich, Switzerland.
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- Works
- 25
- Also by
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I think the author had identified a key issue.